GTS Securities LLC Sells 34,450 Shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

GTS Securities LLC decreased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI - Free Report) by 95.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,586 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 34,450 shares during the quarter. GTS Securities LLC's holdings in Darden Restaurants were worth $296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Impact Investors Inc acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $405,000. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Darden Restaurants by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 14,912 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,784,000 after buying an additional 1,451 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 358,891 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,001,000 after purchasing an additional 13,074 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 146,460 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $27,343,000 after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twin Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Darden Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Institutional investors own 93.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on DRI. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stephens boosted their target price on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Darden Restaurants from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP John W. Madonna sold 1,806 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.88, for a total value of $375,431.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,495,072.96. This represents a 20.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura B. Williamson sold 2,289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.26, for a total value of $474,418.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,056 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,084,206.56. The trade was a 18.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,613 shares of company stock valued at $5,121,492. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Darden Restaurants Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE DRI traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $214.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,415,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,323,530. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.87 and a 52 week high of $215.68. The stock has a market cap of $25.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.74.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The restaurant operator reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 50.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Darden Restaurants's payout ratio is 63.13%.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.